for their short film, Rhapsody. The group had experienced their first taste of recognition a month prior, at CMF's stop at USF, where the film also won Best Picture.Wilson, director of the film, has been involved in filmmaking for some time and had previously won awards in the competition. She met Joyce Yong, and Dan Nguyen, the producers of Rhapsody, at last year's CMF, and the three co-taught the Narrative Filmmaking class offered by the Honors College last fall. Many of the members of the team that made Rhapsody had either taught or taken the class, and the foundation of Rhapsody was laid even while the class was taking place, long before the film was shot.
"Every spare second we had from October to February was spent working on the movie," Yong said.
Participan
ts in the Campus Movie Fest competition, the largest student-run film festival in the nation, must plan beforehand for the movies they will be making. The competition engages students from over 50 universities as they are provided equipment and given only one week to bring their vision to fruition. After the week of filming, the short films are screened and the best 16 movies are shown.The inspiration for Rhapsody came from George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," which the film is set to, and which Wilson spent hours obtaining copyrights for. The colorful film showcases the plight of a teenage boy caught in a world of stereotypes who "finds joy and happiness where he least expects it." Ten official team members and dozens of extras helped bring the story to life through animation, acting, directing, and editing, with plenty of stress and complications along the way. However, the film was a joy to make for those involved.
"This project was our movie, it was something we all really loved," Wilson said.
All of the hours and effort put into the project paid off at the USF stop of CMF. Not only did Rhapsody win Best Picture, but the female lead, Shannon Stewart, won Best Actress. This was the second year the competition was held at USF, and more schools participated in the Regional competition that Rhapsody went on to win. Wilson described these honors as "unbelievable."
"Considering the extreme level of craftsmanship and talent we were up against Sunday night [at the Regional competition], that is an extreme honor," Wilson said.
Wilson is a telecommunications major and plans to continue making films, and is even going to the Cannes Film Festival as an intern in May. Though Yong is majoring in Biomedical Sciences, she still appreciates the satisfaction that comes from filmmaking.
"There something in the making of a film that is exclusive to the process," Yong said.
Rhapsody was be screened at the International Grand Finale at Paramount Studios in June, and won nationally with Best Picture. The film can be viewed online at the Campus Movie Fest website.
From top: Members of Rhapsody crew accept award at the Regional Finals/Sarah Wilson films a scene from Rhapsody/Dan Nguyen and Daniel Wang create set for opening animation/Promotional picture for the movie taken by Daniel Wang
